Set in the late 19th century in New York it stars Daniel Brühl as Dr. Lazslo Kreizler, the Alienist of the title. What is an alienist you may well ask, it's the name used at the time for a psychiatrist, as it was supposed that the mind was 'alienated' from a person's true nature by madness and an alienist was meant to realign them again. Assisted by his friend John Moore (Luke Evans), police secretary Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning) and Marcus and Lucius Isaacson, brother Detective Sergeants with the NYPD, he seeks to understand and bring to justice a serial killer who's been killing and dumping the bodies of 'boy whores'. Early signs point to it being someone rich with power and influence, someone who has many of the city's corrupt police force covering up for him. Utilising new techniques for the time such as psychology and finger printing the team set to find the criminal despite the efforts of some in the force trying to block them. The story also features real people from the era such as Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the USA, who was at the time New York City police commissioner. It also takes inspiration from true crimes with a letter sent from the killer to a victims mother being very similar to that of one sent by Albert Fish to the mother of one of his victims.
This 10 part series is based on the book of the same name by Caleb Carr and reminds me of Ripper Street in it's feel and theme but has one long story arc rather than each episode focusing on a more individual story. Also with it's historic criminal procedure themes it reminds me of Mindhunter another Netflix programme I saw quite recently. I must admit this starts out seeming like it would be great but dragged a bit I felt over it's 10 episodes and I don't know if I missed something along the way but I couldn't fathom the motives of some of the characters at all. Still an interesting watch if you like period detective/crime dramas. The author has written a follow up book with these characters so time will tell if that will be dramatized for television also. I'd probably watch it but am not actively awaiting it with bated breath.
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1 comment:
Have to check this out.
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